Evaluation of the vibration characteristics and handle vibration damping of diesel-fueled 15-HP single-axle tractor

Abstract

Attenuation of vibration transmitted from a single-axle tractor to a human hand results in a better operating environment, enhanced production performance, and decreased user pain. The purpose of this work was to attenuate the hand-transmitted vibration of a single axle tractor using a vibration damper made from a rubber compound. After the damper was installed, the vibration measurements were done for the second and third gears and compared to the undamped vibration. When the vibration measured with the second gear after the rubber dampers were mounted was compared to the vibration measured before application of damping, the upright, forward, and lateral directions of vibration showed 42%, 39%, and 46% reductions, respectively. In the third gear, the decrement was 46%, 29%, and 50% in the upright, forward, and lateral directions, respectively. The latency periods after application of the vibration damping show an increment of 2.55–4.76 years with second gear, and from 2.2 to 4.17 years with third gear. This reflects an increase of 89% and 90% with second and third gears respectively.